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Agrotech, Company News, North America, Trade

 Deere plans to offer Smart Apply throughout much of its dealer network in North America and Australia and will be exploring additional opportunities in new markets.

 Deere & Company has acquired Smart Apply, Inc., a precision spraying equipment company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company developed the Smart Apply Intelligent Spray Control System™, an upgrade kit that can improve the precision and performance of virtually any air-blast sprayer used in orchard, vineyard, and tree nursery spraying applications. Smart Apply helps growers reduce chemical use, airborne drift, and run off, while optimizing high-value crop yields and meeting sustainability objectives. John Deere has worked with Smart Apply since 2020.

“This is a natural progression of the two companies’ working relationship,” said Mike Bailey, Director, Small Tractor & HVC Production System at John Deere. “It’s a continuation of our commitment to high-value crop customers and dealers, further expanding a portfolio of solutions to help growers address their biggest challenges around labor, input costs, and regulatory requirements, and achieve environmental goals.”

Smart Apply was founded in 2014 and has approximately 20 full-time employees. Smart Apply is primarily sold through John Deere dealers in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and England. In the future, Deere plans to offer Smart Apply throughout much of its dealer network in North America and Australia and will be exploring additional opportunities in new markets.

Smart Apply’s precision spraying helps achieve up to 93 per cent less chemical runoff and up to 87 per cent reduction in airborne drift, while reducing chemical use an average of 50 per cent. With less chemical use, growers also average a 50 per cent reduction in water use.

Smart Apply spraying chemicals to crops in a field during dusk.Smart Apply helps growers reduce chemical use, airborne drift, and run off, to optimize high-value crop yields and meet sustainability objectives. Smart Apply spraying chemicals to crops in a field during dusk.Smart Apply helps growers reduce chemical use, airborne drift, and run off, to optimize high-value crop yields and meet sustainability objectives. Smart Apply spraying chemicals to crops in a field during dusk.Smart Apply helps growers reduce chemical use, airborne drift, and run off, to optimize high-value crop yields and meet sustainability objectives.

Sophisticated LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology senses the presence of individual trees and vines and automatically adjusts spray volume based on foliage density to optimize protection. The system stops spraying between trees and rows, adjusting without human intervention. Smart Apply’s proprietary, GPS-enabled software captures a broad spectrum of data while it sprays. The system documents date and time of spraying, overall spray volumes, chemical savings, tree counts, canopy volume, health of individual trees or vines, and acres/hectares sprayed. The precision data leads to a deeper understanding of an orchard’s or vineyard’s productivity, profitability, health, and sustainability.

“Both John Deere and Smart Apply recognize the importance of high-value crops and are committed to investing in innovation and technology that best serves producers who raise high-value crops and helps solve their problems,” said Jerry Johnson, President and CEO at Smart Apply.

 Deere plans to offer Smart Apply throughout

Agro chems – Pesticides, Agrotech, Company News, Horticulture, India

The trials of MAK ADJOL Banana carried out at various places with different climatic conditions before as per the NRCB’s recommendations.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., a leading provider in the energy sector, through their MAK Lubricants division introduced a revolutionary product in Agri Spray segment with the launch of MAK ADJOL Banana, an adjuvant for the fungicides used in Banana cultivation, in association in National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB).

The launch programme, held at Theni was graced by P. Sudhahar, Executive Director (Lubes), Debashis Ganguli, Chief General Manager P&AD (Lubes), S. Kannan, Head (Lubes), South and Thangavelu, Principal Scientist, NRCB, in presence of a large gathering of Farmers and business partners.

 P. Sudhahar, welcoming the dignitaries, thanked NRCB for supporting in trials of the product and helping in creating this product exclusively for Banana Farmers. He re-iterated BPCL’s commitment to the nation-building exercise whichever segment it may be. He also informed the participants about the recent launch of another similar product MAK ADJOL Tea for tea plantation.

Debashis Ganguli explained the benefits of the product asked the participants to make best use of it.

Speaking on the occasion Thangavelu highlighted the issues faced by Banana farmers, particularly leaf-spot disease that has the potential to destroy the crop causing severe hardships to all the stake holders involved. He appreciated BPCL’s efforts to collaborate with NRCB in finding a permanent solution to the problem. The product was tried out at various places with different climatic conditions before according the NRCB’s recommendations.

MAK ADJOL Banana can be mixed with water in the ratio of 1:100 along with the recommended dosage of fungicides. The adjuvant improves penetration thru waxy cuticles, increases wetting & spreading of droplets, and reduces evaporation rates, thus drastically improving the efficacy of the fungicides used. It is bio-degradable, environment -friendly, non-phytotoxic and fully safe to use.

The trials of MAK ADJOL Banana carried

Acquaculture, Agrotech, India, Live Stock, Middle East countries, Poultry, R&D, Sustainability

The collaboration addresses key environmental challenges while promoting a circular economy and waste management innovation.

CEF Group, a leading Indian organization dedicated to waste management, has partnered with Halman-Aldubi Group, a renowned Israeli company with expertise in finance, energy, climate, and technology management solutions, to convert slaughterhouse waste into protein-rich food for fish. Aiming to revolutionize waste management practices in the slaughterhouse industry, this partnership between CEF Group and Halman-Aldubi Group will ensure slaughterhouse waste management implementation in India in alignment with the commitment of India and Israel towards sustainability and innovation. By converting slaughterhouse waste into fish food, the collaboration addresses key environmental challenges while promoting a circular economy and waste management innovation.

The primary objective of this collaboration is to provide a valuable and eco-friendly solution for the utilization of slaughterhouse waste. Instead of being discarded or having negative environmental impacts, the waste will be harnessed to produce nutrient-dense food for fish.

“The collaboration between CEF Group and Halman-Aldubi Group signifies our joint commitment to addressing global challenges in waste management, environmental sustainability, and the production of high-quality fish feed,” said Maninder Singh, Founder & CEO, CEF Group.

“India plays a vital role in global meat exports as it has significant livestock resources. The poultry, livestock, and fisheries sectors contribute to over 6 per cent of India’s GDP, highlighting their economic importance. As the demand for nutritious food continues to rise, both in India and globally, the demand for meat is expected to follow suit, thereby contributing more to slaughterhouse waste generation. If this slaughterhouse waste is not managed properly, it can have detrimental effects on the environment leading to soil contamination, water pollution, foul odour, air pollution and disease transmission, ultimately affecting industry growth. Therefore, CEF Group is bringing forth this joint initiative to handle and manage slaughterhouse waste responsibly and mitigate these environmental and health concerns.”

Halman-Aldubi Group, with its expertise and cutting-edge technology, will ensure that the converted fish feed meets the nutritional requirements for optimal growth and health of fish. One notable aspect of this collaboration is the advanced technology employed in the conversion process.

“This pioneering technology uses a steam process to sterilize the input feed while guaranteeing a process free from burning or pollution. Moreover, the plant design optimization allows for the establishment of a 60-ton-per-day input feed plant in just 300-metre square of space. The plant can be set up within slaughterhouses, maximizing efficiency and convenience. This slaughterhouse waste can be utilized for various processes like Anaerobic Digestion, Enzymatic Hydrolysis, Rendering, Insect Bioconversion, Microbial Fermentation and Algae Cultivation. From waste reduction, recycling resource conservation and reduced harmful impact on the environment to enhanced fish health and nutrition and cost-effective and sustainable feed production, this initiative can bring a groundbreaking change”, said, Rony Halman, Chairman, Halman-Aldubi Group.

The collaboration addresses key environmental challenges while

AgroPolicy, India, Textile industry, Trade

Goyal emphasised a holistic approach towards making the Textile sector more vibrant so as to prepare to take on global competition

Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Textiles, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Commerce and Industry, discussed the roadmap to achieve the target of $250 billion in textiles production and $100 billion in exports by 2030.

While interacting with the officers and staff during the Chintan Shivir organised by the Ministry of Textiles, Goyal emphasised a holistic approach towards making the Textile sector more vibrant so as to prepare to take on global competition. He asked the officers to come up with innovative ideas and underscored the importance of streamlining the institutional structure for better service delivery.

The Ministry of Textiles organised Chintan Shivir to brainstorm on various issues relating to the sector.

The session was inaugurated by Darshana Jardosh, the Union Minister of State for Textiles, who highlighted the importance of the textiles sector in the economic growth of the country and the need to collectively focus on promoting growth across all segments in the value chain. 

She mentioned that the Chintan Shivir was a platform for collectively deliberating and finding solutions to important issues pertaining to the sector. It would also help in promoting better understanding and coordination among all offices within the fold of the Ministry of Textiles.

Officers from the Ministry of Textiles as well as field offices from across the country attended the day-long Chintan Shivir.

Goyal emphasised a holistic approach towards making

Company News, Foodgrains, Seeds, World

Approval is a major milestone on the path to the commercialisation of crops that give off optical signals – detectible from as far away as space – when under attack from pathogens or short of water or nutrients

InnerPlant, the company creating a new category of seed technology that unlocks data and makes global farming more efficient and sustainable, announces the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) approved multiple Regulatory Status Review (RSR) requests.

The RSR approvals include:

InnerPlant’s first commercial product, a soybean fungal sensor currently undergoing field testing with farmer trials scheduled for 2024 and on track for commercial launch in 2025

An always-on soybean that emits a constant signal is used in the crop development process to calibrate and refine detection capabilities

“USDA approval confirms our due diligence around the safety of our technology and reduces the time and complexity of our commercial development cycle,” explains Randy Shultz, PhD, InnerPlant’s Senior Vice President of R&D, Commercialisation. “And it’s an encouraging proof point as we continue working toward global regulatory approvals.”

InnerPlant engineers crops to produce safe and long-studied proteins when under attack from pathogens or when short of water or specific nutrients. The proteins emit optical signals – detectable from as far away as space – that show farmers exactly what kind of help plants need within 48 hours of stress onset, which is as much as two weeks before stress is visible in the field.

Historically, farmers lacked early actionable data and broadly apply agrochemicals as a preventative measure. However, studies show that farmers lose as much as 40 per cent of yields or $220 billion worldwide due to pathogens in spite of overapplication that sees as much as 30 per cent or $250 billion of pesticides wasted – negatively impacting air, water and soil.

InnerPlant’s new category of seed technology delivers traits that tap directly into plants’ physiology and provide farmers with actionable data that is both early and specific to particular stresses in a scalable and economical way.

Approval is a major milestone on the

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Environment, India, IT, Sustainability

IESS 2047 is a user-friendly interactive tool that can help ministries/ departments to develop a variety of energy transition scenarios to achieve net-zero.

A Revamped India Energy Security Scenarios (IESS) 2047 (IESS 2047 V3.0) to assess the integrated impact of various green energy policies of Government of India was released by NITI Aayog. An open-source tool, IESS incorporates several policies related to alternative energy resources like Green Hydrogen, Energy Storage, Renewable Purchase Obligations, PM-KUSUM, offshore wind strategy, Electric Vehicle policy, Energy efficiency, etc. Assessing the demand and supply of energy in the country, the tool helps in analysing emissions, cost, land, and water requirements till 2047.

The release was attended by Suman Bery, VC, NITI Aayog, Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, CEO, NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, G-20 Sherpa, and other experts from Academia, Industry and the Government.

With an aim of making this technology available to the people, this version of IESS is easily downloadable and facilitates users to generate their own pathways. It will help researchers and think tanks to develop user-specific scenarios and the option of customised applications on the basis of share of industry/services/agriculture, population, the pace of urbanisation, end-use energy demand etc.

IESS 2047 is a user-friendly interactive tool that can help ministries/ departments to develop a variety of energy transition scenarios to achieve net-zero. The tool is flexible enough to provide many permutations and combinations of net-zero pathways. It provides capabilities to compute the energy needs and estimates of the country and hence reduce India’s dependency on external agencies for the estimates.

Designed with the help of IIT Bombay, the revamped IESS 2047 will be updated on yearly basis. The baseline has been standardised in 2020 and calibrated up to 2022.

 BVR Subrahmanyam, CEO, NITI Aayog termed IESS as a national asset and an outstanding example of the research and development being undertaken at NITI Aayog. Emphasising upon the fine balance between justified growth aspirations and sustainability, he said that it is important to have such tools and data platforms for holistic planning and policy making at national and state level.

The web version of the tool offers user-friendly graphical representations of energy demand and supply scenarios for the country based on user choices. The results of some of the illustrative scenarios from IESS are shown below:

IESS 2047 is a user-friendly interactive tool

Acquaculture, Dairy, Foodgrains, Industry Reports / Analysis, Live Stock, Poultry, Pulses, World

Global crop production growth will mainly be driven by continued progress in plant breeding and a transition to more intensive production systems.

Global agricultural and food production are projected to continue to increase over the next ten years, but at a slower pace of growth than the previous decade due to demographic trends, according to a report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2023-2032 is the key global reference for medium-term prospects for agricultural commodity markets. While uncertainty has risen due to geopolitical tensions, adverse climate trends, animal and plant diseases and increased price volatility for key agricultural inputs, global production of crops, livestock products and fish are projected to grow at an average annual rate of 1.1 percent during the period, half the pace recorded in the decade ending in 2015. Total food consumption is expected to rise by 1.3 percent per annum to 2032, indicating an increase in the share of agricultural commodities used as food.

These projections assume a fast recovery from recent inflationary pressures, normal weather conditions, no major policy changes and on-trend evolution in consumer preferences. The possibility that inflationary pressures remain persistent poses downside risks to global food demand and production.

Global crop production growth will mainly be driven by continued progress in plant breeding and a transition to more intensive production systems. Yield improvements are projected to account for 79 percent of global crop production growth, cropland expansion for 15 percent, and higher cropping intensity for 6 percent over the Outlook period.

“The broad trends outlined in this report are heading in the right direction, but need to be accelerated,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said. “Promoting a faster shift to sustainable agrifood systems will bring many benefits and help usher in better lives for all, leaving no one behind.”

Global crop production growth will mainly be

Climate, Company News, Dairy, Live Stock, World

The groundbreaking methodology will help beef producers better understand the impact of feed supplements, enabling projects to measure and quantify the reduction of methane emissions

Cargill partnered with TREES Consulting to develop a Gold Standard-approved beef methodology that offers the global beef industry a framework for measuring methane emissions reduction using feed supplements incorporated into beef cattle diets, such as SilvAir. Gold Standard’s certification process allows climate and sustainable development initiatives to quantify, manage and maximise the impacts toward climate security. It requires a verifiable impact toward three or more of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The new beef methodology defines a set of parameters that beef producers can adopt to quantify reductions in methane emissions, a greenhouse gas (GHG) that is derived from enteric fermentation (digestion process) in cattle through eructation (burping), as well as from manure handling. The new methodology is now available for beef producers worldwide to quantify, audit and verify methane reductions, enabling them to register their GHG mitigation project for Gold Standard certification. Gold Standard’s Verified Emissions Reductions (VERs) can be traded in carbon markets, allowing credit purchasers to directly support the projects.  These efforts can also be recognised in corporate value chains, whereby beef producers and food companies account for the reduction in supply chain GHG emissions, which contributes to their Scope 3 targets.  

As a leader in animal agriculture and the beef supply chain, Cargill is in an ideal position to support its network of beef producers with the resources and innovation they will need to meet sustainability challenges. Through its Reach4Reduction program, Cargill is taking a holistic approach to methane reduction by uncovering the potential of feed management and nutrition to do more with less, helping to ensure food security while protecting the planet. Although methane emissions from the enteric fermentation of cattle are a regular occurrence, Cargill recognises the opportunity to reduce methane’s intensity through its global animal nutrition business.

“We know that the industry is looking for more accurate tools to measure methane reduction,” said Joanne Sharpe, Cargill’s global ruminant sustainability lead. “As producers look at their current levels of production efficiency and work toward sustainability goals, we are committed to finding ways to ensure they can be recognised and rewarded for their efforts. As part of our methane reduction priorities, this methodology is a key step toward opening new possibilities to reduce GHG emissions in the beef supply chain.”

“Changing agricultural practice can help reduce methane emissions, and this new methodology provides beef producers with a way to reliably measure the impact of those changes,” said Margaret Kim, CEO, of Gold Standard. “Cargill’s support is helping pave the way for the animal agriculture industry to reduce methane emissions and complements Gold Standard’s other efforts to reduce the impact of agriculture on our planet – such as our recently published methodology which reduces the methane emitted by rice production”.

In practice, projects using the new methodology establish a baseline for emissions during business-as-usual” activities for at least three continuous years. The cattle given feed supplements must be identified and tracked throughout the project. The project crediting period is set at five years and can be renewed for an additional five years, excluding the baseline years.

The groundbreaking methodology will help beef producers

Agro Universities, India, Nature, R&D, Sustainability

Farmer Scientist earns Rs 25,000 – 50,000 per month from A-grade NF farming during the course itself from the first year.

IGGAARL, also referred as Academy, is a collaborative institution set up by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, India with support from the Government of Germany has launched a four-year Farmer Scientist Course (FSC) in Natural Farming. A first of its kind in the world, the course builds a practicing natural farmer to become a participatory Farmer Scientist, a model farmer, a participatory learning facilitator, an entrepreneur and a climate-resilient village developer. It meets the knowledge gaps in agroecology and builds capacities of NF domain with 1,000 Farmer Scientists graduating every year. Apart from building knowledge-skills-tools for A-grade natural farming, FSC imparts technical, research and experiential knowledge and skills on science, value chains, community, ecology, and leadership. Farmer Scientist earns Rs 25,000 – 50,000 per month from A-grade NF farming during the course itself from the first year.

Intake in FSC is about 1,000 per batch. The instruction is in 25 Research and Learning Centres in districts. Initially, these students would come from AP and gradually, FSC expects to start enrolling students from outside AP.

Iris Harder, Principal Portfolio Manager, Natural Resources & Climate – Asia, KfW Development Bank, said, “We are proud to cooperate with IGGAARL and its launch of the Farmer Scientist course. A combination of theory and practice is important. Underlying Natural Farming is knowledge-intensive and knowledge is the only resource that will increase only when it is shared.”

Recently, the FSC has been launched at Pulivendula, Andhra Pradesh, India, by Kakani Govardhan Reddy, the Minister for Agriculture & Cooperation and Food Processing, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Addressing the Farmer Scientist students, Kakani Govardhan Reddy said, “APCNF is the largest agroecology programme in the country. It requires best practitioners with a curious mind, conceptual clarity, and learning facilitation abilities to scale up NF. The Farmer Scientist graduates of the FSC course will contribute to NF Global movement at local levels.” Further, he indicated their plan to give all the students of this batch a modest monthly living stipend during the entire 4-year period, as a token of recognition of them being the first batch of pioneers; first-timers in the world.

Vijay Kumar Thallam, the Executive Vice Chairman of Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS) said, “What we have learnt in the past 7 years is that through the adoption of Natural Farming, it is possible for a small or marginal farmer to earn Rs. 50,000 per month from one-acre land, and Rs 10,000 per month from a 0.2 acre anytime money kitchen garden.”  

In a virtual address to the gathering, Dr Pavan Sukhdev, the Founder-CEO of GIST Impact informed that their recent study concluded that farmers using natural inputs achieved equal or higher yields up to 11 per cent compared to other farmer systems and the net incomes averaged 49 per cent and witnessed more women participation in the workforce. He feels the Farmer Scientist course launched today contributes immensely to strengthening ongoing work and influencing policies.

Farmer Scientist earns Rs 25,000 - 50,000

AgroPolicy, Animal Health, Finance, India, Live Stock, Schemes - Govt

Scheme to act as a key enabler and risk mitigation measure for lending institutions and enabling collateral free funding to livestock sector.

Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying is implementing the Credit Guarantee Scheme under Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) to strengthen credit delivery system and facilitate smooth flow of credit to the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) engaged in Livestock sector without hassles of collateral security. For operationalizing the scheme, DAHD has established a Credit Guarantee fund Trust of Rs 750.00 crores, which will provide credit guarantee coverage up to 25 per cent of the credit facilities extended to the MSMEs by the eligible lending institutions.

The credit guarantee scheme facilitates access to finance for un-served and under-served livestock sector, making availability of financial assistance from lenders to mainly first-generation entrepreneurs and under privileged section of society, who lack collateral security for supporting their ventures.

The main objective of the Credit Guarantee Scheme is that the lender should give importance to project viability and secure the credit facility purely on the basis primary security of the assets financed.

The establishment of credit guarantee fund trust was approved under the Prime Minister’s AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan stimulus package of Rs.15000 crores“ Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund” (AHIDF) for incentivizing investments by individual entrepreneurs, private companies, MSMEs, Farmers Producers Organizations (FPOs) and Section 8 companies to establish (i) the dairy processing and value addition infrastructure, (ii) meat processing and value addition infrastructure, (iii) Animal Feed Plant, (iv) Breed Improvement technology and Breed Multiplication Farm (v) Animal Waste to Wealth Management (Agri Waste Management) and (vi) Setting up of Veterinary Vaccine and Drugs Manufacturing facilities.

One of the key features of the AHIDF scheme is the establishment of a Credit Guarantee Fund Trust of Rs. 750.00 Crores. DAHD has formed a trust with NABSanrakshan Trustee Company Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of NABARD for the establishment of a Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for extending the credit guarantee to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises under AHIDF scheme. This fund trust established in March 2021 is the Nation’s first ever fund trust under Credit guarantee scheme of AHIDF in the agriculture and Animal Husbandry sector and is a path-breaking initiative taken by DAHD which would exponentially increase the number of MSME units getting benefits of AHIDF scheme and strengthen the ecosystem for the collateral-free credit from the banks.

The credit guarantee portal has been developed as a rule based B2B portal and implemented the enrolment of eligible lending institutions under Credit Guarantee Scheme, issuance/renewal of credit guarantee Cover and settlement of claims.

Notably, the initiative of credit guarantee scheme taken by DAHD is expected to greatly increase the participation of MSMEs engaged in livestock sector leading to increased flow of credit to the sector and strengthen the MSMEs to boost the overall rural economy through strengthening the Livestock sector which is of one of the most potential sectors seeking development.

Scheme to act as a key enabler

Agrotech, Company News, Sustainability, World

The new program equips the almond cooperative’s growers with resources and incentives to implement climate-smart practices in their orchards

Blue Diamond Growers launched its USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Grant Program with its 3,000 grower-owners. The program is a major step in expanding the use of climate-smart practices in almond orchards.

The initial launch of the Blue Diamond USDA Climate-Smart Grant Program offers almond growers no-cost seed and a financial incentive for implementing cover crops and/or conservation cover on their land. These practices will not only work towards sequestering carbon but will also enhance the biodiversity of orchards while improving soil health. As part of the program, growers will work with civil society technical partners, Pollinator Partnership and Project Apis m. to implement these practices.

“This is an exciting and unique opportunity for growers outside of the traditional federal, state, and local resources that are typically available to them,” said Dan Sonke, Sr. Director of Sustainability at Blue Diamond Growers. “We know that cost and technical barriers are the largest hurdles to overcome when implementing climate-smart practices. This project provides resources to accelerate our grower-owners’ advances in soil health, biodiversity, and climate-smart agriculture.”

The program will also work to identify almond-specific methods for quantifying the greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts of implementing climate-smart practices and will explore market-based mechanisms to reward growers for their stewardship work.

The USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Grant Program further extends Blue Diamond’s current Orchard Stewardship Incentive Program (OSIP). OSIP currently has more than 50 per cent of Blue Diamond’s acreage enrolled, the largest amount of almond acreage in the world participating in a sustainability program, with over 15 per cent of Blue Diamond’s acreage being Bee Friendly Farming (B.F.F.) certified.

“Not only does this program benefit growers, but food companies and retailers as well,” continued Sonke. “Customers can partner with Blue Diamond to support the use of climate-smart practices which benefit the climate, soil health, and orchard biodiversity, and thereby procure almonds with a measured GHG reduction quantification that helps meet their own climate and sustainability targets.”

The new program equips the almond cooperative's

Australia, Horticulture, Supply Chain, Trade

This is great news for the Australian avocado industry as it has been working hard to increase exports to overseas markets

Avocados Australia has announced that 10 trial shipments of Australian avocados were successfully received by Indian officials. Australian Hass avocado growers will be able to proceed to the next step towards export to India. This is great news for the Australian avocado industry as it has been working hard to increase exports to overseas markets. Peak industry body Avocados Australia welcomes the news and is very pleased that the thorough process adopted by all the participants involved with all ten shipments resulted in this excellent outcome.

“I would like to thank The Avolution, Costa Group, Simpson Farms and Dons Fort Packing for participating in the ten trial shipments and for their professionalism in the way they approached the process,” said John Tyas, CEO of Avocados Australia. “Our access to India rested on the success of these ten trial shipments so we are very grateful that the process went smoothly, more steps are ahead of us but we are closer to our end goal,” he said.

“I would also like to thank Hort Innovation, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Austrade, Kiran Karamil our Indian Agricultural Counsellor and Joe Siana from the Australian Horticultural Exporters’ and Importers’ Association,” he said.

This is great news for the Australian

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Company News, India, Oilseeds

 It will help cater captive needs originating from the company’s oil palm work in the southern states along with demand from other crude palm oil players in the region.

Godrej Agrovet’s (GAVL) Oil Palm business has announced that the company has been allotted potential area of 47,000 Acre in Sangareddy District of Telangana. Allocated by Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (Horti. & Seri.), Government of Telangana, the allotted area will be utilized by the company to expand cultivation of Oil Palm and set up Oil Palm processing units.

Commenting on the allocation, Balram Singh Yadav, Managing Director, GAVL said,” We are delighted to receive additional district in the fresh allotment released by the Government of Telangana. It is a testimony of GAVL’s commitment and efforts to boost oil palm plantation and promote farmer prosperity in the region. We would like to thank Government of Telangana for their support and commitment to this initiative which will benefit the farmers.”

Our expertise of more than three decades in the oil palm business has enabled us to provide variety of resources in addition to educating farmers on sustainable oil palm plantation processes. That said, some more aggression and support from state would have definitely come long way in doing its bit to reduce nation’s dependency on the oil palm imports in the coming years,” he further added.

Recently, GAVL inaugurated an edible oil refinery at Chintalapudi, Eluru district. This is GAVL’s first downstream project for value-added products in oil and fats and will help cater captive needs originating from the company’s oil palm work in the southern states along with demand from other crude palm oil players in the region.

 It will help cater captive needs originating

Company News, India, Sustainability

CNRI is the national network of non-government organisations and people’s organisations working for development effectiveness and democratic governance in India

Confederation of NGOs of Rural India (CNRI) has proposed the creation of a global forum – World Cooperative Economic Forum – to democratise the global value chain for innovative food systems amid rising concerns over inequality in the post-Covid world.

New Delhi-based CNRI is the national network of non-government organisations and people’s organisations working for development effectiveness and democratic governance in India.

Addressing the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Secretary General of CNRI Binod Anand said he comes from a country where thousands of years ago, the concept of social and solidarity economy was expressed differently.”

“It is heartening to notice India has become home for cooperative Movement and helping the civil society create – World Cooperative Economic Forum- will go a long way in developing Social and Solidarity Economy,” Binod Anand said.

Anand also strongly advocated exploring SDG bonds as a new source of capital for raising vital resources for humanitarian projects in the post-COVID world.

Anand said the world is compelled to reconsider the issue of rising inequality, which has cast doubts on the successful implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Poverty itself bears multiple definitions.

To illustrate the point, he said two successful cases from India can be highlighted here.

In the private sector, Dhanuka AgriTech’s sustainable agriculture initiative stands as a significant milestone. This initiative honours farmers with the slogan ‘India Ka Pranam Har Kisan ke Naam’ (Salutations to every farmer). It not only educates grassroots farmers about Sustainable Development Goals but also supports their efforts in practising sustainability within the Crop Protection sector, thus contributing to National Food Security.

CNRI is the national network of non-government